Investigating three complex problems regarding effects of land use- and transport systems developments on traffic volumes and GHG emissions

Despite clear objectives regarding to reduce GHG emissions from road transport and relatively widespread agreements regarding how land use and transport systems ought to be developed in order to achieve this, there is an implementation gap in practical po licy. One explanation for this is lack of knowledge and documentation of how certain combinations of land use and transport developments affects traffic volumes and GHG emissions in various contexts. In a planned main project we will investigate the effec ts of land use and transport systems developments related to three complex urban problems. We ask: 1) What are the effects of various types of urban development in and around strong public transport nodes on traffic volumes on traffic volumes and GHG emis sions? 2) What are the effects of various locations of freight terminals and warehouses in the urban fabric on traffic volumes and GHG emissions? 3) What are the effects of increased road capacity on traffic volumes and GHG emissions in various urban c ontexts? One reason why these issues are not well enough investigated and documented is that they are methodologically hard to investigate, since they are complex, involving short term and long term iterative dynamics, as well as several socio-technical systems. A main innovation in the pre-project will be to develop valid, effective and usable methods for investigating them. Within this pioneer approach lies the toughest challenge of the project, but also its most significant innovation. A main innovati on in a future full project will be to apply the methods in full scale, investigating issues that are not well understood and documented today. The final output of the pre-project will be a proposal for the main research program, which is to be announced during summer 2013. Another task in the pre-project will be to establish contact with international partners for the full research proposal.